G.I. Joe: Doomsday Protocol

Chapter 8: New & Improved Springfield

Two days ago. It was like any other day for Chuckles in the quiet town of New Springfield. New Springfield wasn't actually new, per se, as it was more about forgetting the past and starting anew. Improved Springfield might have been better. But improved for whom? All Chuckles knew was that the old Springfield was a suburban home for Cobra personnel as well as a covert Cobra Headquarters back in the 1980's. And while the town was the same, Cobra's influence was believed to be long gone (hence the new-ness). But it's hard to teach an old snake new tricks, so G.I. Joe sent Chuckles undercover to confirm.

During his time there the Joe's became disbanded, and since less than a handful of Joe's knew about Chuckle's mission, he was left on his own; left to pull himself out. But after a few years, Chuckles had made himself at home. He had learned to respond to the name Wayne Sneeden, meet and married his wife, and have a child. He must have been crazy to stay. To become so familiar, so entrenched. Maybe he was, he often thought. But Cobra wasn't here anymore, right? Right?

Right, so Monday through Friday Chuckles awoke and made himself a cup of coffee before he officially considered his day having begun. His wife, Lizzie, was a nurse and had worked the third shift for the past six years, so Chuckles made a point to let her sleep in as long as possible, which meant it was up to him to wake their eight-year-old daughter, Clara, and get her ready for school.

Each day, after sending Clara off to school, Chuckles would head into his office job at Lihster Industries; a manufacturer of rocket engines for the private sector. Chuckles knew little about the technical aspect of the company (at least nothing outside of what he could read on Wikipedia), which was fine considering Chuckles worked as the Controller in the accounting department. He had a staff of four (three men, one woman) that worked under him. They respected him and, like most people, his co-workers had become whom he spent most of his time around, which out of default had made them his friends. And being friends meant they knew each other's pasts and where they had hidden their skeletons - at least Chuckles knew that about them.

Chuckles knew that Larry had done prison time for embezzling back in the real world. Once out he actively pursued becoming one of the Crimson Guard, but once he heard he would have to change his face to look like the others in his unit... well, a pretty face like his didn't come without its perks and Larry had no intention of giving those up.

Chuckles knew Steve was a recovering alcoholic; having killed a family of three while driving drunk. But with his sister's help he was able to get away with it, fleeing off to join Cobra, which had become the nunnery to which he joined up to hide within. A place where no one cared to judge you for past indiscretions.

Chuckles knew his third employee, Kyle, had barely graduated high school... not a crime or a sin, but pretty unheard of in the accounting world. He had the face of someone stupid with optimism and Chuckles couldn't help but wonder what sort of society we'd created that took a kid that was so optimistic and drove him into working for the most violent and well-funded terrorist organization in the world.

Then there was Ana. She was Steve's little sister and had joined with her brother to help him escape his past. She felt it was a viable restart of his life; a clean slate. And she had flourished better than any of the other three, often citing The Baroness as her living role model, so much so, that she would periodically dye her blonde hair black to give her the same menacing look. But she had been out of the habit for some time, her blonde roots starting to show.

And if there is one thing Chuckles knew, after all of his years undercover, it was that people liked you more when you were flawed. They trusted imperfect people more than those who were clean. They believed flawed people. So, Chuckles gave his co-workers a secret of his own: he and Ana were having an affair. He knew it was the perfect imperfection. He loved his wife but had to pursue Ana to make the flaw real. And as much as it created a bit of a wedge between him and Steve, it worked. Ana was as hooked on Wayne as she believed Wayne was hooked on her.